The best month to visit Scotland

The best month to visit Scotland will depend on whether your focus is on sightseeing and tourism, fishing, hunting or golf. Every month presents very good reasons for a vacation in Scotland. Here we look at the main reasons to visit Scotland, month by month.

January

The first month of the year offers the very best opportunities for pheasant and mixed wing bird shooting. This is prime time for pheasant shooting, either walked-up shooting for individual hunters or for groups of up to 5 or 6 guns, or driven shooting for 6 to 8 hunters. Accommodation costs are low and although the weather may be cold, this must be the best time of the year for enjoying your favorite single malt whisky by an open fire at the end of a day of shooting.

This is certainly THE month for booking your vacation in Scotland. In 2022 we expect demand to be extremely high as the pandemic restrictions fall away and visitors can finally resume travel.

February

February is the month when we can finally resume salmon fishing on all of Scotland’s famous rivers. The early run of fresh silver salmon have arrived in earnest and Atlantic salmon can be prolific on the main spring rivers, notably the Tay, Tweed and Dee.

March

While the salmon fishing continues to improve throughout the month of March, the weather also begins to improve and there are great opportunities to find world class golf at low prices. Almost all of Scotland’s links courses drain extremely well and so offer surprisingly good conditions at this early part of the season. This is the best month of the year for availability and low cost golf.

April

The beautiful spring weather heralds the start of the brown trout fishing season. This is one of the very best months for trout fishing on Scotland’s famous trout rivers, notably the River Don in Aberdeenshire. After the relatively lean winter months, the nymphs and flies are re-emerging and the hungry trout attack the fly with enthusiasm.

 May

The month of May is when everything comes together at the same time. The weather is good, the salmon and trout fishing are at their very best, the golf is wonderful and the roe buck season is in full swing. After Easter, all of the tourist attractions are open, including all of our wonderful castles and historic whisky distilleries.

June

As the longest day approaches, the dry-fly trout fishing is superb in the early morning and into the evening and the rivers are full of spring and summer salmon. The Highland lochs are at their best for both wild brown trout and pike. This is also the time of the year when we look to fishing through the hours of darkness for big, hard fighting sea trout.

July

In terms of sport, July is pretty much a continuation of June. These two months offer the best conditions for river fishing for trout and salmon, loch fishing for pike and trout, roe buck stalking, golf and sightseeing.

August

The month of August is the pinnacle of Scottish tourism. Edinburgh hosts the International Arts Festival and Fringe; the largest event of its kind in the world. The “Glorious Twelfth” opens the grouse shooting season and red deer stalking is approaching its peak. This is also a wonderful time for wood pigeon shooting over stubble fields.

September

In terms of weather, September is probably the best month to visit Scotland. It is also the best month for combining the full range of sporting activities. The salmon and trout fishing is excellent, red deer stalking is at its prime, golf conditions are superb and the wing bird shooting resumes with the opening of the partridge season.

October

Even though the brown trout season is closed and most of the salmon rivers have ended their season by the close of September or the middle of October, the River Tweed salmon fishing is reaching its best. The pheasant shooting has begun and driven and walked-up shooting are widely available. The red stag stalking is fantastic.

 November

As opportunities for fishing fall away and many tourist attractions close for the winter, the shooting season enters its busiest months. This is the time to take advantage of low accommodation costs and treat yourself to a luxurious castle or spa break, combined with superb quality wing bird shooting.

December

December is a great month to visit Scotland. We have the Edinburgh Christmas Market and world-famous Hogmanay celebrations. The driven and walked-up shooting are fantastic and this is also the best month for grayling fishing on our southern rivers.